Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday defended his party’s move to slash state child benefit payments, insisting the reforms were “fundamentally fair.”
Cameron reiterated the change, which will see families with one earner on more than £50,000 lose some or all of the benefit payments while households with two parents with salaries just under the cut-off point hang on to the additional income, was the “right approach.”
He told BBC 1’s Andrew Marr Show: “I’m not saying those people are rich but I think it is right that they make a contribution.
“This will raise £2 billion a year. If we don’t raise that £2 billion from that group of people, the better off 15% in the country, we would have to find someone else to take it from.”
The move comes as part of a plan from the Conservative Party to review universal state benefits going to those on higher incomes.
Cameron added: “I think people see it as fundamentally fair that if there is someone in the household earning over £60,000 you don’t get child benefit.”
The plan has been widely criticised for uneven treatment of single-earner and two-earner families. The means test will use information only on the taxable income of the highest-income family member.
Leading financial think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates the measure could impact about 820,000 families unless they change their behaviour in response.
And about 320,000 families in which the highest-income adult is on between £50,000 and £60,000 may have some, but not all, of their benefits clawed back. IFS said the affected families stand to lose an average of about £1,300 per year.
In a message released on New Year’s Day, Cameron said his party’s coalition with the Liberal Democrats had made “real progress” on cutting the state deficit, reforming the welfare system and boosting school standards.
But in a blow to the coalition’s deficit-slashing policy, figures released at the end of 2012 showed Britain’s deficit grew to £17.5 billion in November.
PM Cameron defends child benefit cuts
